Chelsea decline: Who is to blame and how bad has it got?

Chelsea They’re in free fall after them final defeat – 3-0 Everton – and now we have a two-week international break, during which there will be 10 damaging days.

Having lost 8-2 on aggregate to Paris St-Germain in the Champions League last 16 rounds, Chelsea’s defeat against Beto and Ilman Ndiaye on Saturday means back-to-back defeats in the Premier League and no wins in all competitions.

This has led to increased scrutiny on head coach Liam Rosenior and the club as a whole, particularly vice-captain Enzo Fernandez. Fernandez said Chelsea had lost “identity, structure and direction” since former boss Enzo Maresca left the club in January, adding that players did not understand why he was leaving.

Although Fernandez came close to scoring after the match and hugged Rosenior, his comments paint a worrying picture.

Once again on Saturday, Chelsea were outplayed, error-prone and tactically exposed as Everton battled to a comfortable win at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

As a result, Chelsea finished sixth in the Premier League, just one point behind fifth-placed Liverpool in the Champions League qualification race.

However, Everton are currently seventh, just two points behind Chelsea, and are one of the teams that can one-up the struggling giants with seven games to play this season.

“I’m not focusing on the noise,” Rosenior told BBC Match of the Day. “I know the reality of where I am as a club, where we are and what we can achieve, it’s still incredible things.

“It’s been a really tough time for these kids. We’ve had a lot of setbacks and we’ve got to make sure we pick ourselves up and come back fighting.”